Biden: ‘A cease-fire is not peace’

President Joe Biden reiterated his opposition to a cease-fire in Gaza in an op-ed published Saturday, in which he also lamented the high cost to Palestinians and laid out his vision for a two-state solution.

“As long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a cease-fire is not peace,” Biden wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece detailing the challenges presented by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Even as many Democrats in Congress have called for a cease-fire and questioned the Israeli offensive, Biden has remained adamant that Israel is exercising its right to self-defense and has instead supported humanitarian pauses.

These pauses, which were implemented last week, are designed to allow Palestinians to flee the hostilities and seek out food and medical care.

Biden said he was “heartbroken” by the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza and blamed Hamas for using Palestinian civilians as human shields. The “road to peace,” the president wrote, must lead to a two-state solution.

“Our goal should not be simply to stop the war for today — it should be to end the war forever, break the cycle of unceasing violence, and build something stronger in Gaza and across the Middle East so that history does not keep repeating itself,” Biden said.